A Golden Look at Sadie’s Wars

 

I am eager to share Rosemary Noble’s family saga, featuring my First Chapter Review, but first let  me introduce you to Jessie Calahin. Jessie is an author, reviewer, blogger and an encouraging friend to book lovers. Her welcoming and lively spirit shines through her website, Books in my Handbag. Take a minute to click on her site. I’ll wait. Were you amazed at the elegant showroom of books and handbags you discovered?! Jessie told me that, “selecting books is a voyage of discovery for intrepid readers.” We both knew that discovering a favorite read is a joy. How could we connect these lovely books with readers?

 

One day, Jessie was singing and chatting with her book characters as she arranged new books and handbags in her Handbag Gallery. One of her characters tapped her shoulder and pointed to a new and glowing handbag on a top shelf. Jessie had discovered the Golden Handbag. She peered inside and found that the handbag was filled with Golden Chapters.

Who would read these Golden Chapters?

Me!

 

Handbags Across the Water! (Water!)

 

Welcome to the world of Jena’s Golden Chapters with Books in my Handbag.   You are invited to look inside our glamorous, Golden Handbag, and read our First Chapter Reviews.  Let’s see if we can tempt you with some golden reads.

Jessie from Wales has been featuring the Golden Chapter reviews on her blog. This week, the Golden Handbag travels across the pond to Tropical Ohio, USA.

I am delighted to feature the latest Golden Chapter Review.

Jessie will post the review on her blog, too!

Thank you Jessie, and thanks to our brave authors, too!

 

 

I’ve got a golden handbag

 

And with a golden handbag…

it’s a golden day…

to read…

 

 

…I reached into my golden handbag and chose Sadie’s Wars- An Australian Saga by Rosemary Noble. The cover features a photo of a confident, attractive young woman from a different era. Is this Sadie? What were her wars? Were they the World Wars or were they her personal internal wars? Or does it matter? Wars are more than news events, they are always personal to the person living through a conflict. Let’s look at the first chapter to learn more about Sadie.  Veteran’s Day is remembered next week, so I thought this book would help us to honor our Veterans.

 

 

Chapter One- England, Cleethopes, June 1940

 

We meet Sadie as she awakes with a jerk, startled by a dream. She senses it was a memory of her father, and thus a pleasant way to start her day. But then she remembers, “Today’s the day.”

 

The first chapter introduces us to several characters. We see Sadie’s sons, Glen, Henry and Dale as they spend the day with her. They begin with a breakfast together and followed by a special outing. A few days later, we visit with Sadie’s niece, Nancy and her baby. We also get glimpses of Sadie’s past.

 

But just as Sadie’s waking dream changed from pleasure to the harsher realities of life, we see that Sadie continues to face the ordinary mixed with the unimaginable. Sadie wants to make breakfast for her boys, but there’s no bacon. She dresses to meet her niece, “navy jacket, handbag, matching court shoes” and includes a gas mask. A pleasant walk to the Bird’s Nest Café near the beach includes seeing rolls of barbed wire and tank traps, and then the walk changes to a frantic run as the air raid siren “assaulted their ears.”

 

The author writes in a clear way and features all the senses- we see the town, hear the sirens, feel the sun at the beach, taste and smell the breakfast. The chapter ends with Sadie worrying about her boys in a time of war, and we share her anxiety.

 

 

Questions

 

1. The title of the book is Sadie’s Wars. We meet Sadie at the beginning of World War II. That is one war- what do you think the other war is? A real conflict or an internal one?

 

2. Do you feel a sense of foreboding or a sense of perseverance? Will there be sorrow and tragedy for Sadie? Will she overcome it?

 

3. Does Sadie’s past include some secrets?

 

If you’ve read and reviewed the book, please share a link to your review in the comments. Thanks!

 

Happy Reading and Stay Golden!

Jena C. Henry

 

Meet Author Rosemary Noble

Rosemary worked as a college and university librarian and has a life-long love of social history and reading. Researching family history led to an interest in Australia where Search for the Light ends and provides the setting for the sequel, The Digger’s Daughter. Sadie’s Wars finishes the trilogy and is available to order.

Rosemary is a member of Arun Scribes Creative Writing Group and was a volunteer researcher for the Australian Founders and Survivors project. Rosemary is a member of CHINDI (Network of Independent Authors).
Her third book, Ranter’s Wharf, is set in England during the first half of the 19th century. She writes the occasional piece of flash fiction which can be found on Paragraph Planet and the Drabble websites.
For more information visit Rosemary’s blog at https://rosemarynoble.wordpress.com

 

 

 

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